Advisory Committee

Arama Kukutai (Chair)
Managing Director , Finistere Ventures

Arama Kukutai joined Finistere in March 2005 as a Managing Director, from a successful career in agribusiness, investing and international trade. Prior to joining Finistere, he served as Regional Director - North America for the New Zealand government's Trade Development agency in North America establishing multiple pathways for New Zealand businesses to access this key market. Mr. Kukutai has had an active career in investment, both in commercial banking at Westpac Banking Corporation, and as a Director of PKW Incorporation, a successful $300M agribusiness and diversified investment entity involved in agriculture, aquaculture and property development with activities in New Zealand, Asia and Australia. He served as Chairman of PKW Farms, a large pastoral Dairy agribusiness in New Zealand. Mr. Kukutai serves on the boards of Hawaii BioEnergy LLC, and Somark Innovations, Inc. He is also Chairman of the Larta Institute's advisory board for the USDA Commercialization program for SBIR grantee companies - see more at usdacap.larta.org. He has lived and worked internationally for much of his career and brings a strong agricultural business focus to Finistere Venture's activities. Mr. Kukutai is responsible for agricultural technology and green energy portfolio investments and is a member of Finistere's Investment Committee.

Cheryl P. Morley,
Chairman of the Board, Nidus Center

Ms. Morley is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Nidus Center. She is currently consulting with new technology companies. Ms Morley spent 26 years with Monsanto Company in various positions retiring in October 2009 as the Senior, Vice President of Strategy. Prior to leading the company’s Corporate Strategy group she was responsible for Monsanto’s Animal Agriculture Business — including sales and marketing, manufacturing, and research and development.

Ms. Morley holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Arizona. She is a CPA and is active in a number of organizations. Currently Ms Morley is on the Board of Directors for Fleming Pharmaceutical Company and Mercy Health Plans. She is also the current Vice Chairman, Board of Trustees for the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Ms. Morley was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eller School of Management at the University of Arizona in 2009, the YWCA Leadership Award in 1998, and was recognized as one of the Most Influential Business Women in St Louis.

Martha Schlicher
Bioenergy Technology Lead, Monsanto

Martha leads Monsanto’s bioenergy efforts in the technology organization focused on utilizing Monsanto’s scientific expertise and capabilities to support and respond to policy. The responsibilities of this effort include defending the US corn based ethanol industry by generating and providing quality sound data to help guide regulatory policies and decisions related to bioenergy. These efforts should also continue to create opportunities for its growth and in anticipating and addressing threats to the global biofuels market. Martha’s role formally interfaces with Monsanto’s Governmental Affairs organization and informally with both Monsanto’s Sustainability and Commercial organizations.

Martha has over 20 years of direct agricultural and biofuels industry experience from her previous roles at Monsanto, her leadership of the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) and as the head of Technology and Business Development for GTL Resources plc. In her most recent role at GTL, Martha led the identification, commercial vetting and financing of new technologies and assets for GTL’s corn based ethanol interests . Anticipating the current political environment, GTL Resources proactively completed the first ever and much cited carbon footprint study of a corn based ethanol plant. Prior to her role with GTL, Martha oversaw the commissioning and start-up of the National Corn to Ethanol Research Center (NCERC ), the only independent feedstock to fuel bio-processing testing facility in the world. The Center has successfully served as a pilot facility for a multitude of clients; commercializing over 40 new technologies for the industry since 2002. In this role she became a key advisor to industrial, trade, governmental, and investment groups on the potential of renewable fuels and the assessment of renewable fuel technologies. Martha began her career at Monsanto where she held various roles leading the Environmental and Regulatory Sciences and Regulatory Policy Groups, the Ag Biotech Crop Teams, Corporate Divestitures, Corporate merger activities on behalf of the Agricultural Company, and the US Midwest Commercial organization.

Martha has a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Indiana University, a Ph.D. in Bio-organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Martha serves as a Trustee for the St. Louis Academy of Science, as a Technical Advisor to the NCERC, as a Board member of GTL Resources plc and Illinois River Energy, LLC, as a member of the RFA co-product and educational committees, and as an industry advisor to the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy Research at Washington University in St. Louis, the Department of Agricultural Economics at University of Missouri, Columba and the Midwest Governors Association LCFS Advisory Group.

Mich Hein
Managing Partner, Nidus Investment Partners

Dr. Hein is a Managing Partner of the Nidus Partnership which is focused on developing and commercializing early stage technologies for the energy and agriculture markets. He has startup, corporate and research experience in the biotechnology industry at Heliose Corporation, Chromatin, Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Monsanto, PPG Industries, the Scripps Research Institute, and the Illinois Medical District. Dr. Hein holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in plant physiology from the University of Minnesota, and a B.S. in botany from Ohio University.

Michael Melnick, Ph. D.
Principal, CMEA Ventures

Michael Melnick joined CMEA as Principal in 2008. Prior to CMEA, Michael was Chief Commercial Officer and Executive VP of Operations at Assay Designs from 2006 to 2007; co-founder and Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Cell Signaling Technology from 1999 to 2006; and staff scientist at New England Biolabs from 1995 to 1999. Michael has a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University, a BS degree with honors from Stanford University, and an MS degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. Dr. Melnick is also a Visiting Scholar at UC San Diego.

Ronald L. Meeusen, Ph.D.
Managing Partner, Midpoint Food and Ag Fund

Ron has 26 years of experience in bringing new technologies and products to market. During this time he has led research and development for major corporations in agricultural chemicals, field crop and vegetable genetics and breeding, animal health, novel foods and industrial materials. His successful projects include planning and conducting the world’s first field trial of a genetically engineered crop trait in 1986, development and launch of one of the first insect and herbicide resistant corn hybrids in 1996, introduction of a trans-fat free canola oil, and development of dozens of new varieties of field and vegetable crops on three continents. Ron has been a frequent speaker at conferences, a consultant to Federal policy on regulatory issues, and active in industry trade groups on key issues such as European acceptance of new food technologies.

Prior to forming MidPoint Ron spent two years as an executive-on-loan writing an economic development plan which the State of Indiana adopted for its food and agricultural sectors. During the previous six years as Global Leader of Biotechnology at Dow AgroSciences, Ron led the expansion of its biotechnology research and development program.

In earlier assignments Ron:

• Spent three years helping Seminis Vegetable Seeds integrate their three acquisitions into the world’s largest vegetable seed business.
• Designed and led the Sandoz Seeds biotechnology programs in Palo Alto, California and Northrup King, Minnesota.
• Conducted a 1980 technology assessment which led the Rohm & Haas Company to build one of the earliest agrobiotechnology programs, which Ron later ran.

Ron holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in plant cell biology, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in plant physiology.

Sharon Berberich
Early-Stage Commercial Assessment Lead, Dow AgroSciences

Ms. Berberich joined Dow AgroSciences in 2008 to lead the development of a product portfolio for the EXZACT™ Technology Business. Her experience in biotechnology includes 18 years at Monsanto Company in research, regulatory, diagnostics, product development, new business development, and field operations. After leaving Monsanto and prior to joining Dow, she established her own consulting business, helped to start-up then joined Chlorogen Inc. as the VP of Business Development, and served as the Director of International Programs at The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

Timothy J. Cooley
Executive Director, Madison Economic Development Corp and Managing Director, BioAg Gateway

Timothy Cooley is a Fellow and member of the Board of Directors of the LARTA Institute. He is a strategic business advisor and an expert in issues related to regional economic competitiveness.

He is the current Director of the Economic Development Division for the City of Madison, WI where he leads a professional staff of 20 in the offices of Real Estate, Business Resources, and Economic Revitalization.

Mr. Cooley is the former Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives for the Orange County Business Council and President of the Southern California Technology Innovation Council. These related roles were an outgrowth of his position as President and CEO of Partnership 2010, an economic think tank of Southern California business, government, and education leaders credited with a number of major initiatives including the crafting of the first economic growth plan for Southern California's Tech Coast.

Mr. Cooley has over 40 years of investment, management, and strategic planning experience with companies ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. His career includes positions with IBM, E.F. Hutton, the Pacific Stock Exchange, Regis McKenna Inc., and Ernst & Young. He has been involved with founding a number of companies and is a frequent speaker on topics dealing with entrepreneurship and management of fast-growing companies, leadership, technology commercialization, and regional economic sustainability and competitiveness.  

In addition to his corporate affiliations, Mr. Cooley has served on the Boards of Directors and Executive Committees of a number of leading professional and planning organizations including the American Electronics Association, the Life Sciences Industry Council, the Forum for Corporate Directors, the CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum, the ACCELERATE Program at UCI, the CONNECT Program at UCSD, the Orange Coast Venture Group, the Southern California Regional Economic Strategies Consortium, the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance, VenturePoint-Technology Business Development Center, and the University of California, Irvine's Medical Center.

He was a member of the technical advisory panel for the State of California Strategic Economic Planning Commission and a member of the State's Capital Formation and Business Investment Committee. He also has served on the California Business and Higher Education Forum, the County of Orange Overall Economic Development Planning Commission, the O.C. Defense Conversion Steering Committee, Orange County Government Practices Oversight Committee and the County of Orange Strategic Planning Commission.

Mr. Cooley graduated from the University of Wisconsin.

Mark Matlock
Senior Vice President Research Division, Archer Daniels Midland Company

Mark Matlock joined Archer Daniels Midland Company in 1980. Mark Matlock was appointed Senior Vice President-Research division where he directs food ingredient research.

Mark Matlock holds a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Millikin University and a Master's of Science degree in polymer chemistry from the University of Akron.

Prior to his current appointment, Mark Matlock served as an Analytical Chemist, Manager-Process Development, Laboratory Manager-ADM BioProducts and Director-Food Applications.

Mark Matlock is author or co-author of seven U.S. patents, two of which relate to an analytical instrument (OSI) that measures the oxidative stability of vegetable oils. He has conducted research that has led to new soy protein isolates for ADM. He has managed research efforts that lead the introduction of trans free fats for margarines and shortenings via a novel enzymatic rearrangement technology. In addition, Mark Matlock was elected president of the American Oil Chemists' Society for 2003-2004 and in 2007 was honored as an AOCS Fellow.

Richard Braddock
Global Registration Manager, BASF Corporation

Richard Braddock has over 25 years experience in the crop protection industry spanning a diversity of roles including field development, technical service, product development management, marketing management, functional group management, alliance management, and global registration management.

Richard holds an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology, M.S. Agronomy from the University of Florida, and a B.S. Agriculture from Purdue University.

David Smoller
President of Biotech, Sigma Aldrich

In June 2004, David Smoller, Ph.D., joined Sigma-Aldrich as the Vice President of R&D. In this role, he is helping to expand Sigma-Aldrich’s leadership position through the development of new and innovative products for Life Science and High Technology research. Dr. Smoller is involved in the implementation of a number of commercial initiatives in the areas Cell Culture, Proteomics, Genomics, Cell Biology and Organic Chemistry. In October of 2005, he expanded his role from R and D to operations, heading up both R and D and operations for the Research Biotech Business Unit. He was also promoted at this time to the Key Management Group for Sigma-Aldrich Corporation. Recently Dr. Smoller was promoted to President of the Research Biotech Business Unit and now is part of the Executive Management Group for Sigma-Aldrich.

Most recently he was CEO and President of ProteoPlex, a seed stage spinout focusing on functional genomics. Dr. Smoller founded ProteoPlex in 2001 and led the St. Louis-based company through its product development and final acquisition. In 1992, Dr. Smoller founded Genome Systems, Inc., in St. Louis, which provided the scientific community with access to genome project-related technologies. Dr. Smoller stayed at the helm of the organization during its acquisition in 1996 by the Incyte Corporation, based in Palo Alto, California. Dr. Smoller was promoted to Senior Vice President and leader of the St. Louis organization, growing the staff to more than 250 people. During his tenure at Incyte, his responsibilities expanded and included the management of $150 Million Genomic Business Unit. This responsibility included overseeing the management of 700 hundred employees, as well as managing the strategic planning, product marketing, and research and development strategy of the unit.

Dr. Smoller earned a doctorate degree in Molecular Biology and a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University in the Drosophila Genome project and a postdoctoral fellowship at Monsanto Corporation.

Dr. Smoller, is a Board member of Center of Emerging Technologies, St. Louis Academy of Science, Washington University National Research Advisory Council, Advisory Council of the Biomedical Engineering Department of Washington University, and Analytic and Life Science Systems Association

Paul Matteucci
General Partner, US Venture Partners

"The aftermath of the Telecom/Internet bubble was a difficult period for many companies, but it wasn't altogether a bad time," says Paul Matteucci, who served as interim CEO for several USVP companies during the early part of the decade and observed that "real entrepreneurs" continued to innovate and forge new pathways that today are bearing fruit. Now he sees this happening again as we recover from the deep recession of 2008-2009. "When some one from this new generation loses a job, you find them waiting in the lobbies of venture capital firms with a business plan, rather than in the unemployment line with a resume. They have a sense that they can take charge of their own destiny, rather than become a victim of their circumstance."

With a passion for mentoring startup teams, Paul helped a generation of entrepreneurs learn object lessons in how to execute during difficult times. In fact, he notes, the best of them learned to use the hard times as a source for innovation, and as impetus for creating cultures that are accountable, cash-efficient and focused.

"USVP remains very active during all phases of the business cycle, continuing to invest throughout the recession and recovery. We invest in 15 to 20 new businesses every year. It takes time to build a great company. So when you start it, is less important than when it emerges with its product done and its sales beginning to ramp. It is hard to predict what the economy will look at that point, so you can't let today's news overly impact your investment timing. The current generation of management in today's startups is savvier, more resilient, and willing to take five years or more to build a company."

Paul's passion is for creating jobs for people and their families. Small businesses are by far the major source of job creation in the U.S. and, increasingly, worldwide. His strengths include strategic marketing, organization operations, and team-building. "Entrepreneurs are smart, engaging people. They have a vision for how to change the world. I help them avoid the tendency to defocus when facing multiple opportunities."

Prior to USVP, Paul was CEO of HearMe, taking that company public in 1998. His two decades of operations experience include eight years with Adaptec, where he was Vice President and General Manager of the SCSI host adapter division. Paul served as a Resident Entrepreneur for Institutional Venture Partners in 1995 and was an advisor to Accel Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures in the 1990s. Paul received an M.B.A. from Stanford University, an M.A. in International Studies from Johns Hopkins and a B.A. from the University of the Pacific. With his partners, Paul led investments in Trovix and 3Ware. He is currently on the boards of Factery, Gear6, Intransa, LimeLife, Total Beauty, and Winster. Paul also serves as a trustee of the World's Affairs Council and is a board member of the University of the Pacific's School of International Studies and of the Business School at Montana State University in Bozeman. He is a frequent lecturer at business schools, including Notre Dame, Montana State and U.C. Davis.

Paul's interests on the technology landscape: consumer and business services, audience measurement and aggregation, storage and enterprise applications and reinventing the industrial food system. "The models point to a peaking of the world's population at between nine and ten billion people around 2050. Getting from here to there without massive starvation and environmental damage is a major challenge for governments and businesses. But it is also an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs, with creative ideas, to build valuable companies that address these issues."

Miguel Oliveira
Director Global Innovation, Bunge

He has worked for Bunge since 1985, starting out in Bunge's isolated soy protein plant in Southern Brazil as Quality Control and Production & Control Manager. After the PhD, he became the product manager for isolates and concentrates for Bunge in Brazil, ultimately becoming the COO of the ingredients division for Bunge Alimentos in 2000. After the acquisition of Central Soya by Bunge in 2002, helped create the Solae Joint Venture (the global leader in soy proteins) with DuPont in 2003, by joining together the DuPont Protein Technologies, Central Soya and Bunge ingredients business. In Solae, he has held positions in VP of Meat Segment Strategy (St. Louis,MO 2003-2004), Asia Pacific Regional VP (Hong Kong 2004-2008) and VP New Business Development (2008-2009). Return to Bunge in July 2009 to head the Bunge Global Innovation team, presently located in St. Louis, MO.

Brian Clevinger
Founder and Managing Director, Prolog Ventures

Brian has 20 years of experience in all phases of commercial technology development. He currently focuses on drug delivery, aesthetic materials and devices, and plant biotechnology. Previously, following an academic career in a tenured position at Washington University in St. Louis, he learned the art of investing at an affiliate of Alafi Capital and then served as founding CEO of a vaccine delivery company. Brian holds a doctorate in immunology from Indiana University and has completed his postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University.

Victor Hwang
Chief Executive Officer, T2 Venture Capital

Victor Hwang is the co-founder and Managing Director of T2 Venture Capital, a venture fund focused on breakthrough technology spinning out of government and academia. He is a Kauffman Fellow, a member of a selective program to groom leaders of the venture capital industry. He is the immediate past President of Larta Institute, one of the nation's leading organizations helping to commercialize technology from key federal agencies, a network of universities, and global partnerships with numerous countries. Victor was the founding CEO of Stonybrook Purification, a water filtration company. Victor was Chief Strategy Officer of Veatros, a video search company, where he led the company's acquisition by DivX. He has mentored over 200 companies and has structured venture capital and technology transactions as a corporate attorney in world-class law firms.

Before joining Larta Institute, Victor was an attorney in the Corporate Securities and High Technology groups of Irell & Manella in Los Angeles. Victor practiced in a variety of legal areas, including negotiating venture capital investments, public and private equity and debt structurings, and mergers and acquisitions. Victor has also counseled on a range of new technology matters, including software development, telecommunications, multimedia, and the Internet. Prior to joining Irell & Manella, Victor practiced corporate and finance law with the international firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt.

Victor graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. with Honors, studying Government plus additional studies in Computer Science, Computer Architecture, and Operating Systems Design. He graduated from the Law School of the University of Chicago with a J.D. He was appointed as a Law Clerk in the General Counsel’s office of the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1997 and served in national politics from 1995 to 1997.

Greg Horowitt
Managing Director, T2 Venture Capital

Greg Horowitt is the co-founder and Managing Director of T2 Venture Capital, a seed stage venture fund focused on the commercialization of intellectual property from government-funded agency programs, major research institutes, and universities around the world. In this role, he has been active in the IP sourcing, founding, business structuring and executive management of their portfolio companies, including his role as the first CEO of STAR (Stonybrook Technology and Applied Research), a biomedical discovery and development company. Greg’s past accomplishments have been as an executive with a Berkshire Hathaway company, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at a leading venture firm, and CEO of a venture-backed enterprise software company. Greg is concurrently the Executive Director of Global CONNECT, a think tank based at the University of California, San Diego focused on assisting the development and growth of successful international research and technology clusters. Today the Global CONNECT network includes more than 20 countries and 40 cities internationally focused on accelerating global technology commercialization. Greg is one of the most sought after speakers on topics of technology commercialization and has been published internationally.